Life's sweet for Chocolate

Macho monickers are par for the course when you earn your living in a game that involves being followed by an ambulance and having half a ton of horse roll over you on a regular basis.

Norman Williamson became known as Stormin' during his rise to the top in the 1990s. The top northern rider Chris Grant was christened Rambo for his never-say-die attitude a decade earlier, while the fearless Australian Mick Dittman was The Enforcer.

So what are we to make of a jump jockey known to all and sundry as Chocolate?

Robert Thornton's nickname was coined during his days as a babyfaced amateur at David Nicholson's powerful Cotswolds yard. The soubriquet - it refers to the chocolate manufacturer - wins few prizes for originality and fewer still for its capacity to strike fear into the hearts of his rivals.

But the man who answers to it has crept in under the radar to claim himself a niche among the top five riders in Britain this season.

"Every single rider and valet in the weighing room calls me Chocolate nowadays," he said. "All my friends do the same, and it's got to the point that I hardly know how to answer to anything else.

"It's true that I don't have a high profile like some of the lads. Of course it's great to get praised in the papers, but I like to keep things lowkey and if you do the job right on the track then the rest will look after itself. November went brilliantly for me and December was much the same, so I'm starting this year full of confidence and hoping to keep the run going."

At 25, it's fair to say that Thornton is claiming his place among the elite a fair bit later in life than many people expected.

Phase one of his career, spent learning from role models such as Adrian Maguire and Richard Johnson in a Nicholson yard packed with high-class horses, went by in a blur.

Doubles at the Cheltenham Festival and the Aintree Grand National meeting in 1997 were followed by a charmed run through to the title of champion conditional rider in 1998, but with hindsight Thornton feels that success came a shade too easily.

"When you are riding big winners at Cheltenham and Aintree at the age of 18 like I did it's easy to start feeling you can walk on water, but once you lose your claim you're suddenly in there fighting with the big lads," he said.

Thornton found himself well behind on points for a couple of years but, unlike so many riders who hit the headlines in their teens, he showed the appetite to relaunch his career and is now firmly established as stable jockey to Alan King's thriving yard at Barbury Castle in deepest Wiltshire.

"Things fell away for me for a while, not so much in terms of the amount of rides I was getting but certainly in terms of the quality," he said.

"With hindsight I probably took things a bit too easily, but I'm a lot stronger mentally these days and I feel that I'm a much better jockey now than when I first started out."

Few would doubt the accuracy of that view. Thornton has always been powerful in a finish with a natural flair for getting horses to jump fluently, but the last two years have seen him add an acute tactical awareness and confidence to his armoury.

His latest birthday was crowned with a memorable treble on Trouble At Bay, Rigmarole and Crystal d'Ainay at Cheltenham last month, and King feels the sky is the limit for his old ally over the next few years.

"I've known Chocolate since he came down to us as a schoolboy and the raw ability has been there right from day one," he said.

"To be honest we didn't get on all that well in the early days, but he's matured a lot.

"I had my eye on him as a possible stable jockey for quite a while before he finally joined us and he's fitted into the role beautifully."

Thornton is currently winning on one in every four horses he climbs aboard for King and, without wishing to look too far ahead, his sights are set on joining the elite group of riders to partner a hundred winners in a season.

"Some people say that there is a big gap between the top three jump jockeys and the rest but I can guarantee you that there are lads throughout the top 20 and beyond who can do the job given the chance," he said.

"In this job so much depends on having the ammunition and I'll certainly be looking to beat my previous best of 71.

"Who knows what will happen after that, but if I stay clear of injury and the weather is kind then there might just be a chance of having a crack at the hundred."